Why Oregon Ducks' Marcus Harper Didn't Transfer When Mario Cristobal Left
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00:00For me, personally, I look back on my five years at Oregon,
00:05starting with Coach Crystal Ball, coming in in 2020 COVID,
00:09what a way to enter into college football, you know,
00:12with an unconventional way.
00:14And the whole world kind of just being on the lock.
00:17Again, not being a big name in my 2020 class,
00:22I probably said it once or twice,
00:24not being a big name in my class,
00:26but kind of just having a confidence that boldness is just better than yourself
00:29coming 2,000 miles away from your front door
00:32and make something of opportunity that only few get once in a lifetime.
00:36You can call me crazy, you can call me delusional,
00:39but I know what's on the inside of me.
00:42Like, I know what I'm capable of, and I know who I'm called to be.
00:46Like, that confidence has been there since day one,
00:49and you couldn't shake me off my pivot.
00:51Early in my career, it didn't start off obviously how I wanted it to,
00:55not being able to get on the field as early as I personally had anticipated,
00:58but, again, it's not even about my timing, it's guys' timing.
01:03And Coach Landon came, Coach Cristobal left,
01:07and provided a very good and sweet opportunity
01:11for your boy to kind of pop on the scene
01:13and show him how to get down.
01:15And I was, man, I remember that day like it was yesterday.
01:20That season of my life, it was in 20, was it 2022?
01:26I get there, and I just ball out, dog.
01:29And it's almost like, well, duh.
01:31But, I mean, look at the landscape of college football now.
01:34Like, it would have been very easy for me to just jump ship
01:38and go somewhere else and be like, you know what?
01:40I'm not even going to try to give this new program, this new culture a shot.
01:44I could have went somewhere else.
01:46Big fish, little pond type deal.
01:49But that's not who I wanted to be.
01:50That's not the principles I wanted to stand on.
01:52When I wrote my goals this year, just embrace and separate.
01:55Like, embrace the uncomfortability that these goals are
02:02and the habits that you got to do with these goals
02:05and the uncomfortability that it takes to do what you're trying to do
02:09and separate from the rest.
02:11And in me staying that, I was able to do that.
02:14And, you know, like I said, got my way on the field.
02:18That's another thing that I really took from my career is, man,
02:22I remember my offensive line coach at the time, Coach Alex Mirabal,
02:26and it was after my freshman year, true freshman year,
02:29he said something that always stuck with me.
02:31He was just like, okay, after your first year, like,
02:34you're kind of going to get coddled.
02:35But after that, like, it's all up to you, what you make of your career.
02:38And that principle of, okay, you got to take this thing by the horns
02:43and you kind of got to direct it, that's up to you.
02:48And I know the result that I wanted from my career here at Oregon.
02:51That's what I wanted to amount to.
02:53And that's all he needed to say.
02:56And so, again, another scenario, me just kind of doubling down.